Women's Six Nations: England to 'expect unexpected' from Italy

Cornborough has won 65 caps since making her debut for England in 2015

Prop Vickii Cornborough says England must be braced for Italy's unpredictable style of play on Sunday.

England opened their Women's Six Nations title defence with a 57-5 victory over Scotland, while Italy faded to a 39-6 defeat by France after a solid first half away in Grenoble.

"Italy love, open broken play, their style of play really rattled France," said Cornborough.

"We have to make sure we expect the unexpected."

England have been convincing winners in the teams' most recent meetings, running up a 67-3 scoreline in Parma last year.

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However Italy have pushed England close in the past, most notably coming within nine points of the Red Roses in the 2016 edition of the Six Nations.

Cornborough believes their style of play will offer opportunities for England as well as attacking threat.

"Italy like a loose kicking game," she added. "They love a chip and chase over the top and they are very good at regathering so it is having that awareness in defence, but it is also poses so many opportunities for the counter attack.

"I think it will be really exciting for an England squad that is hungry to score."

France host Ireland while Wales entertain Scotland in the other matches in round two.

Wales will be hoping to back up a dramatic opening-round victory over Ireland.

Cornborough, who was elected as the Rugby Players' Association vice-chair in November, says the introduction of professional contracts, as happened for some of Wales' elite female players in January, are important for the Women's Six Nations as a whole.

"I have gone through that whole process myself; from amateur to semi-professional, holding down a full-time job while still trying to juggle a Red Roses career, and now fully professional and it completely changes the game," said the 32-year-old.

"You don't necessarily train much more, it is about the rest and recovery and what you do off the pitch and I have definitely found it has made me a much, much better rugby player.

"Seeing the Welsh girls being given that opportunity, we'll start to see dividends.

"As a product in the Six Nations, we are producing some amazing rugby so if we are able to get that investment across all of the unions, and hopefully Ireland will start to step up in terms of professional contracts, you are definitely going to see that pick up in terms of the northern hemisphere competitiveness and pushing women's rugby."

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